History Interprets Prophecy

 

Down through the ages, prophecy often could not be understood until the event actually happened. History is the best interpreter of prophecy. When unfolding history matches up with what God has prophesied, then the wise and the faithful can know what God was foretelling or warning, and be assured that He is fulfilling His purpose and plan.

Last days prophecy can be very confusing, almost impossible to understand. That is because God intentionally veiled the full and clear meaning so that it would remain a mystery until the time it was needed to be known (cf. Dan 12:4-10). The problem is, most interpreters don’t want to wait for history to unveil it. So, they become experts at fabricating interpretations, speculatively. And their conjecture, which sounds so good, becomes “gospel truth”. It is not the privilege of interpreters to become a “prophet” and predict the meaning of God’s prophecies. Prophecy is God speaking. History will have the final say what God meant.

The prophet Amos wrote, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.”  But God does not reveal His plan just to satisfy our curiosity, rather to warn mankind and to guide His faithful, at the appropriate time.

Joseph had a dream of his brother’s sheaves bowing down to him. It wasn’t clear what it meant until the time it was fulfilled. His brothers and his father denied that the dream could have any truth to it, and Joseph must have wondered the meaning as he spent time in an Egyptian prison.

Daniel’s dream of five beasts (Dan. 7) could not be fully interpreted at the time. Yes, the beasts represented nations, but exactly which nations was not made clear until history unfolded. And the identification of the fifth beast, the little horn nation, has only recently been fulfilled in history. The birth of a new nation, America, and its rise to world power, is proof positive of God’s providence. Do we see it?

The prophecies of the birth and ministry of Jesus were the same. They could not be interpreted predictively, but when history interpreted them then the wise should have recognized their long-awaited Messiah. But, no, only a small handful of people believed the fulfillment of prophecy. The Pharisees denied that unfolding history was confirming the Prophets, and insisted that Jesus was an imposter, not the Christ. Jesus later wept over Jerusalem, saying, “How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” (Lk 12:56) “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Lk 12:56; 19:44).

Now, what about those prophecies of Revelation? The accurate interpretation, once again, will come from history. But will we recognize history’s fulfillment, or will we hold on to our cherished conjectures and speculations? That question is very, very relevant. Why? Because Revelation is happening, now. Five of the seven trumpet warnings have already occurred, over the last 100 years. Which means that Armageddon is next. History also confirms that the little horn of Daniel 7 and the seventh beast of Revelation 13 are not the Antichrist, rather a powerful nation at the end of the age. History has confirmed America’s place in prophecy, and inherent in that accurate interpretation is the warning that America will be destroyed. History is interpreting God’s prophecies quite differently than what most Christians have been taught to expect.

Ears That Do Not Hear

The hearing specialist came out to call the next patient, “Stephen”. I looked around the waiting room, but there was no one else but me. So, I asked her, do you mean “David”? She said “yes, that’s who I just said.”

She was helping me decide about getting hearing aids. We looked over the results of the first hearing test. My left ear dropped off so badly in the high frequencies that they insisted I get an MRI on my inner ear canal to rule out a physiological cause. But one test result really stood out. One of the tests had been word recognition. With my left ear I scored only 52%. I got 13 right and 12 wrong. The other ear was 80%. The funny thing is this. I remembered doing that word recognition test. I didn’t miss a single word, I thought. Certainly, I don’t need hearing aids.

My dear, wonderful wife, Carol, is the one who insisted that I get my hearing checked. So, I did, just to prove to her that I could hear just fine, thank you. She also insisted I get my vision checked. I went to the optometrist to see if I needed glasses, something a bit more prescriptive than the reading glasses I had been buying from the Dollar Store. After the vision test the optometrist started looking into my eyeballs with some special scope. He told me that glasses would do me no good, because I had cataracts that were clouding my vision so much.

I had recognized that one eye was getting more and more blurry, or cloudy, so I wasn’t surprised. When I went to see the Ophthalmologist to discuss cataract surgery she looked into my eyeballs as well. Her comment was simple, “I don’t know how you can even see.”

The morning after surgery to remove the cataract in my right eye is a vivid memory. I got up like usual and went to the sink to wash my face and wake up. I was startled and stepped back from the mirror, hardly recognizing the guy looking back at me. He had spots, scars, wrinkles and whiskers, a face I had not seen in years, I reckon. After a few days I began to realize that the left eye, the one that was my good eye, was now very cloudy. What I thought was a good eye was almost as bad as my bad eye. The doctor said, “I told you so. I have reserved another surgery date for you.”

I am amazed at how bad my hearing and my eyesight was and I did not even have a clue. It reminds me of statements in Scripture. “They have eyes but do not see, ears but do not hear” (Jer 5:21). After telling a parable Jesus often challenged his listeners, saying, “He who has ears let him hear” (Mt 11:15). And at the close of each of the assessments of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 Jesus said the same, “He who has ears let him hear”.

The Jews of OT times were dull and blind to the truth of the prophets. Hard hearts, molded by the cultures around them, defiantly insisting that God should conform to their lifestyle. The Jews of NT times were dull and blind to the teaching of Jesus about the New Kingdom. They thought they had God all figured out. You can’t change a mind that is smarter than God. And the church, full of believers, is pictured by the Lord of the Church as being dull and blind to its condition. A happy, going concern, but off the mark.  All of these, having ears and eyes, are totally unaware that they do not hear the voice of God. Clueless. Just like me, with my ears and my eyes.

I wanted to understand this phenomenon. Why do so many people have ears but do not hear God, eyes but not see Him. Even those who seem to be otherwise spiritually inclined. The answer could be summed up in one word. Bias. We tend to hear God (or not hear Him), interpret His truth, and incorporate it into our life, based on the bias of our heart. The bias to accept the lifestyle of the world about us. The bias to accept long-standing theological beliefs that rule out any other understanding. The bias to be carefree and easygoing about surrendering all to the amazing love of God. In the parable of the four soils, there is one who hears the word of God, receives it, and bears fruit. That person is “noble and good” (Mt 13:13-23).